British Values at Baynards Primary School

At Baynards Primary School we uphold and teach pupils about the British Values which are defined as:

• democracy
• rule of law
• individual liberty
• mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

These values are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Emotional (Life skills), and Religious Education (RE).  We also teach the British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum.  

The school takes opportunities to actively promote British Values through our daily assemblies and whole school systems and structures such as electing and running a successful School Council. We also actively promote the British values through ensuring that our curriculum planning and delivery includes real opportunities for exploring these values. Actively promoting British Values also means challenging pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ views.

At Baynards Primary School, these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:

Democracy:

Democracy is an important value at our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council. The elections of members of the School Council are based on pupil votes. Additionally, children recommend each other for the Head teacher Voucher Awards which are awarded to individual children (or classes) who show they are modeling the values of respect, courage, sensible, honest, kind, fair, successful and responsibility. The children have worked together and agreed a code of conduct, which we at Baynards Primary School actively work and live by; The Code of Conduct is available in each classroom and actively used by children and adults’ influencing what is an agreed acceptable behaviour.

The Rule of Law:

The importance of laws and rules, whether they are those that govern the class, the school or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days. Our red and yellow card system’ for behaviour is aligned to an agreed set of codes (see above) and if children are given verbal warnings this is always set against the agreed school behaviour code. Children are asked to identify which aspect of the code they have broken to ensure that this connection is made and understood. Children are all rewarded for following the Baynards’ Code of Conduct by having a weekly golden time activity of their choice. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the police and fire service etc. are regular parts of our calendar and help reinforce this message. 

Individual Liberty: 

Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and planned curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety teaching and Life skills lessons. Also, pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs, choose the level of challenge in some lessons and assess their learning against the success criteria in lessons.

Mutual Respect:

Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy are based around core values such as ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility’ and these values determine how we live as a community at Baynards Primary School. Assemblies are based on ‘Values for Life’ and are central to how we expect everyone to go about their life at our school. Children and adults alike, including visitors, are challenged if they are disrespectful in any way. Values are highly visible around the school and can be seen in posters, pictures and mosaics around the school, as well as embedded through the behaviour of our school community. 

Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs:

This is achieved through enhancing pupils’ understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity in our local community which is by large white British. Assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and Life skills. Each class visits a different place of worship throughout the academic year and presents to the whole school to develop their understanding. 

Examples of the British Values being taught in the curriculum this term at Baynards Primary School

Foundation Stage

As part of our daily set up in Foundation Stage, children are taught the value of individual liberty through self-selecting their learning activities.  Children are taught about the value of democracy through collaborative decision making, for example, choosing names for class areas and deciding the content of the role play areas.  They are learning to tolerate the different faiths and beliefs through their learning of the festivals of Chinese New Year and Diwali.

Year 1 and Year 2

Year 1 children are taught the value of democracy through voting for their new role play areas in the classroom.  Children’s ideas are heard and shared with others, resulting in a democratic decision on what will be included in the next role play area.  They are taught about the value of laws and rules through their learning in the outdoors.   Children are actively encouraged to make personal choices about the foods they eat following their learning about ‘Fighting Fit’.  They use a sticker reward system which recognises when their behaviours and attitudes show respect towards others.  They are learning about the similarities and differences between the Christian and other faiths in their R.E. lessons. They learn to show mutual respect for one another in a range of curriculum areas, team games in P.E., working in teams and pairs across a broad range of subjects.

Year 3 and Year 4

In Life skills children are learning about the importance of rules.  They are reflecting on those that are in our classrooms, school and within our society, learning to recognise how this helps our world get along.  In R.E, they are learning about the natural world and the associated religious stories from different faiths.  Through their history topics of, ‘Ancient Egyptians, Rotten Romans and The Terrible Tudors they look at rules in society originated and the sanctions put in place when these laws are broken. They are taught to tolerate the different faiths, through their Religious Education sessions. They learn to show mutual respect for one another in a range of curriculum areas, team games in P.E. and group work across a broad range of subjects. 

Year 5 and Year 6

They are taught the value of individual liberty by making their own choices through selecting the challenge level of work to complete in some of their maths sessions. Through their history topic conducting a ‘European Study’ the children learn about Europe’s fight for freedom and a democratic Europe.  They are studying the leadership of women during the war and how this impacted on women’s voices being heard.  As part of their Life skills subject, children visit ‘Crucial Crew’ where they are taught to make the right choices surrounding use of the internet, railways, drugs and alcohol.  They learn about the rules that are in place in society to prevent misuse of these and learn how to keep safe.  Children continue to build on the value of individual liberty making choices on their residential visit to PGL.  This trip promotes both independence and responsibility.  Mutual respect is a value learnt from an early age and this is re-emphasised in Year 6 with the buddy system with Foundation stage.  Children give and receive respect from their buddies acting as positive role models in the school environment and society.  In R.E, they are learning to respect and tolerate other faiths.